Texas family aids cat shelter

Nov. 19, 2012

Written by

Kristi Funderburk

@kfunder

POINT PLEASANT — A desperate Facebook post by a volunteer at Point Paws helped connect the cat shelter with a Texas man who had driven 1,700 miles looking to donate a solar generator to victims of superstorm Sandy.

Alan Blomgren, 48, was watching the horror of the storm play out on television from his home in Austin, Texas. He connected his solar generator to his pickup and set for the Garden State, hoping to help someone in need.

“I set my own schedule and I’m somewhat of a humanitarian heart,” he said. “So I saddled up and I jumped on Facebook and I said I’d head up there and help as many people as I can.”

Blomgren picked up his sister, Ashley Brown-Bates, in Dallas and got to Ocean County in two days. But while he knew from news reports there were many without power, they had trouble finding anyone by driving around.

His offer to help was finally spotted on Facebook and passed through local channels to help him touch base with Sheryl Burke, a volunteer at Point Paws. The electricity was out at the facility, which shelters some two dozen cats as part of the borough’s trap, neuter and release program, and the overnight temperatures were getting unbearable.

Blomgren set up his generator at the Albert E. Clifton Avenue shelter for a day and a half. Then, when a borough-owned generator was located, he helped fix it and set it up at the shelter.

Burke said the volunteers call Blomgren “Alan the Angel.” He wouldn’t accept anything in return for the kindness he offered, she said.

“We tried to give him money for food or gas and he said, ‘Look,’ and he puts the money on the table, ‘Give this to someone else,’ ” Burke said.

Blomgren was pleased he found someone to help. He’s trying to start a small business in his hometown with solar generators and had one available to lend to anyone who needed it.

“It was getting cold. They didn’t have any solution and we showed up at the hour they needed us the most, they said,” he said.